Bentong is an old Chinese tin mining town near the hill resorts of Genting Highlands and Bukit Tinggi, and a popular day trip destination from Kuala Lumpur. It was quiet on a Wednesday when we visited, but I understand it gets busy on Sunday mornings when visitors come for the morning market, and in the evenings for the regular night market. Lawrence has made a little video of our trip to Bentong, so I will include that here...
We parked near the market area and then walked around the streets. Bentong Gallery is a cafe at the front and a museum and gift shop at the back. The Gallery was closed on Wednesdays so we returned here the following day as we had to drive this way to get to Lukut. The walls of the museum area are covered with the history of the town and stories/photos of its people. There is quite a lot of reading to do here, but if you are visiting Bentong, you should come here, if only to be reminded that the Chinese tin miners were here at the invitation of the local Sultan, long before the British invited them in. Nowadays, Bentong is most famous for its ginger which you can buy at many stalls in the town. But if you are looking for ginger sweets, ginger sauces, ginger-anything, then visit the shop inside Bentong Gallery and pick up some gifts to take home.
Bentong is a mixture of colourful buildings and drab rundown buildings. There are 3D art works along the walls of Bentong Walk, but with cars parked on the pavement, these paintings are difficult to interact with.
There is artistry everywhere, even on the walls of the coconut shop.
The highly decorated Chinese Town Hall shows the glory of Bentong in the past (1914), and there are other interesting old buildings along the main street (Jalan Chui Yin) and its side streets. And, you can still find these covered walkways which allow unimpeded walking while protected from the weather.
As we approached the river, and passed through what looked like the original settlement area, we saw a couple of small altars under a huge tree. There was also a small Hindu temple on the oppostite street, which was all closed up because of the coronavirus restrictions.
And under the bridge itself, we saw people sheltering on the green bank under the arch, and presumably this was their home. Sadly, Bentong on this day had an old faded look to it.
As we were trying to walk across this bridge, we were stopped by this lady and taken to a cafe. We had a very confusing conversation using her stilted English and our even poorer Cantonese. She sold us some fruit, which we did not want, and which was so mushy by the time we got home that I pureed it and put it in the freezer. It will be useful for cocktails though!
Next we drove just out of Bentong to the Chamang Falls. The road became smaller and smaller, surrounded by greenery, until we arrived at the entrance to the park area. There is a small entrance fee but it is well worth it. As soon as you alight from your car, you can hear the waterfall and feel the fine mist. Neither my photo nor Lawrence’s video really give you the feel of this majestic waterfall. Water was hurtling down the rocks at tremendous speed.
And, as you will find with waterfalls in Malaysia, there will be people sitting with their feet in the water.
You can walk over the river to trek on the other side, but we had other plans for the rest of the day.
One other place to visit if you are in Bentong is the Kicap Soy Sauce Factory. But because of the current restrictions due to COVID-19, visitors were not allowed inside the factory, so all I could do is take this photo through the fence.
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